Thailand 'back in business' after tsunami disaster
Authorities in Indonesia have discovered 4,000 new bodies, bringing the death toll from the tsunami in Asia and Africa to nearly 150,000, while UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan toured Sumatra island to witness the devastation and the massive relief effort.
Twelve days after the tsunami hit, cleanup along some of Thailand’s coastline was almost finished and tour operators said they were eager to get back to business.
Sunbathers were on the beach, while others threw frisbees and played in the sea.
But relief workers were still trying to come to terms with the scale of the December 26 earthquake and killer waves that hit 11 nations. With tens of thousands and still missing and threatened by disease, the UN said the number of dead would keep climbing.
“I think we have to be aware that very, very many of the victims have been swept away and many, many will not reappear,” UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said in New York. “The 150,000 dead figure is a very low figure. It will be much bigger.”
Hardest hit was Sumatra, which was closest to the 9.0 magnitude quake, where all of Indonesia’s some 100,000 death’s occurred. The country increased its toll by 19,106 today, but later revised the number down to 4,289, saying a miscommunication had led to the mix-up.
Annan and World Bank President James Wolfensohn flew over the island’s devastated west coast in a Singaporean helicopter and then drove through the main town of Banda Aceh.
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi also flew in to survey the damage.
“It’s a tragic event. We’ve seen miles and miles of destroyed shoreline,” Annan told reporters in Meulaboh, a town on Sumatra’s west coast. “I was shocked by the water destruction.”
Annan’s visit came after he attended a summit of world leaders in Jakarta yesterday on how to turn one of history’s largest-ever aid packages – nearly €4bn (€3bn) in pledges – into food for the hungry and shelter for the homeless.
The UN chief urged nations to come up immediately with their promised aid, and to break with past practices of pledging much and delivering little.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived in Sri Lanka, where more than 30,000 people died, to inspect tsunami-devastated areas and hold talks on relief efforts with the government.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was on the Thai island of Phuket to get a firsthand glimpse of what used to be a top holiday destination for Britons and talk to people still searching for missing loved ones.
Others were looking to the future, with cleanup on Thai beaches almost complete.
“It’s amazing how fast things have gone back to normal. The Thais have done a brilliant job of organizing disaster efforts and getting things cleaned up,” said Peter Elsey, 48, an English tourist who lives in Singapore and owns a house in Phuket.
In Indonesia, some aid officials were reviewing their security precautions after the arrival of a radical Islamic group.
The group, Laskar Mujahidin, which was allegedly involved in Muslim-Christian fighting in another part of Indonesia between 1999 and 2001, has set up a relief camp – but said it was only there to help.
“We are not here to fight. We’ve come to help. We’ve got no problem with the foreigners as long as they have no hidden agenda,” said Salman Alfarizi, the leader of the group’s 80 members deployed to Sumatra.
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